Sugar and Spice
by Ruby Ruby Ruby
Summary: *Repost - Written 2010* Phoebe and Paige enjoy the future together


**Sugar and Spice**

"There will be no tantrums, no hitting, no kicking, no pinching, no hair pulling, no spitting, no biting, no licking, no yelling, no name calling, no kissing, no running away from your teacher, no super glue, no made up stories, no gum in anyone's hair, no taking off clothes, no spraying of water, no taping things to things, no opening windows and no magic." Paige Matthews lectured as she faced the fiercest creature she'd yet to encounter.

"But mommy, I didn't mean for all that stuffs to happen." Four-year-old Samantha Mitchell batted her baby blue eyes at her mother.

"Don't even try it Missy." Paige warned as she shooed her daughter down the ludicrously pink hallway. Like usual, Samantha's twin sister Hannah was perched on her mother's hip, thumb in her mouth and Dishy the Fishy in her hand.

Once the threesome reached the ballet studio's entrance, Paige plunked Hannah down beside her sister and knelt in front of her girls. "I'll be watching." Paige looked at Hannah, holding her sister's hand tightly. "So don't be scared." Paige turned her attention to Samantha, jumping on the spot. "And don't get into trouble." Paige paused when she noticed a smudge of chocolate on Samantha's chin. Her darling daughter had clearly helped herself to their afternoon treat four hours early. Samantha grinned and Paige rolled her eyes, kissing both of her girls on the forehead. "Go have fun."

"OKAY MOMMY!" Samantha yelled in the outside voice she knew she wasn't allowed to use inside. Paige gave her a look and Samantha held a finger up to her lips, forgetting that she wasn't supposed to use the middle one. "Bye bye Mommy." Samantha whispered as she raced out the door, dragging a hesitant Hannah behind her.

A few minutes later, Paige plunked down in the parents sitting area with a sigh. "I hate ballet days."

Phoebe looked up from her crossword with a grin. "Took you long enough, I almost thought about striking up a conversation with someone." Both women looked around at the scary assortment of overbearing, over-pearled, over-ambitious dancing moms with a shudder. "Have I ever told you that I love you?"

Paige laughed as she took off her coat. "Sorry, it took forever to get out the house this morning."

Phoebe crinkled her nose. "Ew."

Paige rolled her eyes. "I wish...no, Sam threw a tantrum because she no longer likes pink." Phoebe shrugged, after raising two girls through the preschool years, that kind of complaint had become quite reasonable to her. Paige sighed. "It's been a tough week."

Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Coffee?"

"Oh, gimme gimme." Paige held her hand out expectantly and Phoebe passed her sister her customary extra large double shot vanilla latte. "You're amazing." Phoebe snorted and held up a pastry bag. "Beyond amazing."

"I bet you say that to all the PTA moms."

Paige pulled out a chocolate chip muffin. "Just the ones I'm related to."

Phoebe grinned. "How is the head of the PTA? I heard you guys had dinner last night."

"Good. Although she's still stressing about Chris' new power." Paige took a huge bite of her muffin.

Phoebe sighed. "I don't really blame her, a 13 year old with firepower tied to his emotions..."

"He wouldn't have received it if he couldn't handle it."

"Thank you Mrs. Whitelighter." Phoebe stated dryly.

Paige grunted. "Come on, it's his destiny. He's never going to learn unless you guys let him practice."

Phoebe held up her hands. "Hey, don't get me involved in this. That's between you and Piper. You know you're allowed to teach my girls however you want."

Paige chewed on her muffin until she couldn't take it anymore. "She's just so damn stubborn! I mean, Leo agrees with me. Those boys have so much power and they need to learn how to use it. I'm not saying she has to send them to magic school, but they shouldn't be taught to think of magic as something bad."

Phoebe sighed. "Look, I get where you're coming from, I do, but maybe Piper has a point. If they don't use their powers for anything but self defense, then Wyatt won't be tempted by evil and Chris won't ever have to come to be past and die in his father's arms. I know it's not what you want to hear, but they're her kids and she has a right to give them the normal life she wants."

Paige frowned. "Now you're making me feel guilty."

Phoebe gave Paige's hand an apologetic squeeze. "You're doing a great thing leading the next generation of magic, but our childrens' lives won't ever be like ours. The Halliwell name is infamous and any demon that's stupid enough to try to take on a member of our family is going to face the wrath of the Charmed Ones. I mean, it's been what...9 months since the last demon attack?"

Paige smacked Phoebe's arm. "Don't jinx us!"

Phoebe laughed and took a sip of her drink. "Don't worry, we'll just sic Prue and Sam on them."

Paige couldn't help but agree on that one. Her troublemaker and Phoebe's rebellious tween were exasperating enough to make any demon beg for a firey vanquish. With that thought in mind, Paige squinted at the window that offered a view into the ballet studio. Her daughters' age group was in the corner practicing various dancey things. Well, except Sam who was...down on all fours barking at her frustrated instructor? Paige turned away quickly, if she didn't see it, she didn't need to parent it. Phoebe, accustomed to her niece's antics, did the same. "So how are things with you?"

"Bloated. Nauseous. Horny." Phoebe summarised with an irritated sigh.

"I certainly do not miss that part of pregnancy." Off Phoebe's glare, Paige stuck her nose in her coffee. "How's Coop?"

"Busy. The elders loaded him up with a whole bunch of new cases last week. Something about Valentine's Day."

"That sucks." Paige commented sympathetically. Phoebe smiled back and Paige decided that enough time had passed to recheck the window. Sam was back with the group, prancing around on tippy toes. Paige smiled at the grin on her daughter's face, until she lost her balance and took out Phoebe's five year old daughter. Both Paige and Phoebe winced as the twosome crashed to the floor, but the two little girls soon giggled it off and picked themselves back up. Paige turned to her sister sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

Phoebe waved it off. "Juliet's tougher than she looks."

Paige and Phoebe watched the girls happily dance around for a few minutes. "Pretty awesome, huh?"

Phoebe wrinkled her nose. "Ballet? Not really my thing, I hated the lessons Grams forced me into as a kid. But Jules loves it, so who am I to say?"

"No, not ballet. Them." Off Phoebe's lost look, Paige licked her lips. "Well...it's just, I feel like I lost out on so much with you guys by growing up with my parents. I mean, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't exchange the time I spent with the Matthews for anything, but I always wondered 'what if'.

"And our kids are getting the what if." Phoebe finished knowingly. Paige nodded and Phoebe grinned. "You're right, pretty awesome." Suddenly, an ear-splitting cry rang out from the studio.

"Not again." Paige groaned, instantly aware of the culprit.

Phoebe surveyed the scene through the glass. A boy no older than six sprawled on the floor, Juliet sulking at the bar, Samantha beaming with her fist in the air and Hannah crying with empathic pain. Juliet, as a cupid's daughter, had the unfortunate habit of attracting boys like a moth to a flame. And Samantha, as someone who thought that boys were icky, took a great deal of offense when they tried to kiss her cousin. So more often than not, Phoebe and Paige were forced to haul boys off of Juliet and Samantha off of boys.

Phoebe hoisted her six month pregnant self to her feet. "Well it wouldn't be Sunday without some drama."

Paige gathered up their purses and coats with a sigh. "But does it always have to involve them getting kicked out of class?"

Phoebe waddled her way towards the door. "Oh well, it was nice well it lasted."

Paige downed the last of her coffee, glad to have had those 10 minutes, and pushed the studio door open. "See you at karate."


End file.
